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Additional cases from Friday's Sheriff Court sitting

Caught red-handed stealing from tips fund

A THURSO man was caught in the act of raiding an hotel staff’s tips fund, Wick Sheriff Court was told.
Edward Shearsmith had gone to the Northern Sands Hotel, Dunnet, with relatives but made his way into the office. A member of staff happened to notice that the door was open and went to investigate.
Shearsmith (33) of Riverside Terrace, Thurso, claimed he had been trying to get a signal for his mobile phone but then returned a bundle of notes he admitted taking from the tips fund thought to have contained between £300 and £500. Another member of staff appeared and the police were informed.
Solicitor George Mathers said that when he was discovered, Shearsmith said: “Can I give the money back and we will call it quits”.
Mr Mathers described it as “a spontaneous theft” and added that the accused had “not slept well” since the incident.
Sheriff Andrew Berry described Shearsmith’s explanation that he had been trying to get a signal for his phone and had found his way into the hotel’s offices as “an unlikely tale”, but gave the accused credit for having pleaded guilty at the earliest possible stage.
The sheriff noted that Shearsmith’s record contained several offences for dishonesty but he had not been in trouble since 1998, and the sheriff added he was going to assume that the latest crime did not mark a fresh pattern of offending.
Shearsmith, who pleaded guilty, was ordered to carry out 66 hours of unpaid community work.

Broke bail order

Liam Wann (18) breached a bail order banning him from the home of a woman in Thurso, where he had behaved in a threatening or abusive manner for which he had been ordered by the court, to be of good behaviour for six months.
The court was told that the breach to light when police were making inquiries about an unrelated matter in the same area and found the accused at the woman’s home, although not in her company.
Senior fiscal depute, David Barclay said that Wann, of Meiklejohn Court, Thurso, explained that he had he had sent a letter to the court requesting a change in his bail conditions and anticipated that the matter would have been dealt with by his solicitor.
Sheriff Berry impressed on Wann that bail orders were made to be complied with, “not for breaking”. Any variation in them, was a matter for the court and “not for anyone else to assume”.
Wann was ordered to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work under a community pay-back scheme.